1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is broadly concerned with improved conveyor apparatus including an underlying conveyor frame preferably having synthetic resin belt-supporting slide bars supported at spaced locations so that the slide bars bridge the underlying supports and are themselves structural members supporting a conveyor belt. The conveyor frame preferably is designed so that the components thereof can be sanitized without the need for any frame disassembly.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Typical conveyors include an underlying frame assembly which supports a movable conveyor belt. Such frame assemblies often include elongated, synthetic resin slide bars having uppermost flat surfaces designed to permit belt movement therealong. Such slide bars are commonly supported throughout their full length by means of upright rigid metallic plates or legs so that the plates or legs form the structural support for the belt, with the slide bars primarily serving as low-friction, non-structural, wear members. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,742,907 describes a conveyor frame having a series of elongated, laterally spaced apart synthetic resin wear strips supported throughout the length thereof by upstanding metallic plates.
Such prior conveyor designs suffer from a significant problem when used in food plants or in other uses requiring a high degree of cleanliness. For example, the use of plastic wear strips supported throughout their full length by metallic supports inevitably creates unsanitary conditions because of the extreme difficulty in cleaning the regions of interconnection between the supports and wear strips. While theoretically it is possible to remove such wear strips on a daily basis for cleaning, in practice such disassembly represents a significant and time-consuming task, so that in practice, it is only rarely done. Indeed, some food plants using conveyors have been forced to shut down their conveyor lines when confronted by surprise government inspections which found the conveyor frames to be unacceptably unsanitary.
There is accordingly a need in the art for an improved conveyor apparatus which can be more readily cleaned on a periodic or daily basis, without the need for any conveyor frame disassembly.